


Quoting Love and Other Things

by Itanohira



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Elementary School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, CIRCLE OF LIFE, College, Elementary School, Fluff and Angst, Growing Up, Growth, I dunno about later, Innocent at first, Lovino is a little shit, M/M, Meeting Again, Romance, School, Slice of Life, Spamano cause I said so, They are all tiny babbus, University, Weight, chubby!Antonio, haha - Freeform, some - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-02
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-25 11:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/952418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itanohira/pseuds/Itanohira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lovino prefers to stay away from annoying, bothersome people. But when a clumsy, awkward, overweight kid, Antonio, transfers into his elementary school, he finds himself the target of his friendship. Though their friendship was short lived, Lovino, now a Uni. Student, is not pleased when a handsome, bothersome, Spanish man interrupts his culinary class years later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which four children become extraordinary friends on the first day of school

It was the first day of school. Glen Haven Elementary was not a big school - with only a student population of one hundred and fifty, it easy to know a majority of the kids if you were a student yourself.

Lovino huffed, and crossed his arms as he tried to give off his nastiest looks towards the other fourth graders. He was a little short for his age, and many of the other kids towered over him as they shuffled into the Elementary school's parking lot. Unlike him, most of the other kids were still half asleep from getting up so early. Someone in the walking group stepped on his foot and another had accidentally shoved him, to which he promptly shoved a pigtailed girl down onto the hard asphalt and tried his best to flatten another boy's foot with a well placed stomp. He snickered as he trotted away from the cluster of fourth graders and made his way into the school's entrance. His small brown loafers softly tapped against the colorful tiles, and Lovino made a small shrugging movement to push his backpack up.

He scowled at the smiling secretary in the front office, and headed to his classroom, to Ms. _Whatever-her-name-is'_  class. Lovino didn't really care. He just wanted to get over with the school year and away from his classmates and teacher. He stomped his way to class, obnoxiously sticking his tongue out at a teacher that had told him to stop his stomping, and did what he was told, before stomping again as soon as the teacher was out of earshot. He was at his classroom, anyways.

Lovino entered the open door, crossing his arms as he walked up to the teacher's desk, waiting to be told where he was going to sit. A tall kid was in front of him, speaking to the teacher. As he waited for his turn, he looked around the almost empty classroom; it seemed like he was one of the earlier students - it was just him and the boy in front of him that were in the classroom. The other boy, finally done, walked over to his seat, where he set his backpack on the floor next to his desk. Lovino shuffled forward, and asked for his assigned seat. The teacher had pointed over at a seat next to the boy who had just sit down, and Lovino shuffled over, scowling. He couldn't wait for the day to be over.

"Hiya!" the boy sitting next to him said, grinning as he turned so he was facing Lovino. "My name's-"

"Don't want to hear it." Lovino cut him off, sending his a particularly scathing look. The boy didn't look fazed, and grinned while absent mindly playing with the hem of his shirt.

"So, uh, if you don't want to hear mine, maybe I can get to know yours-?" Another sharp look from Lovino shut him up. The boy shrugged, his green eyes shining, but gave Lovino another grin before turning back in his seat so that he was facing forward again. As the minutes passed by, more kids began to fill the small classroom, until the bell had rung. The seat right in front of him was empty still. The teacher then greeted them all, taking his attention from the seat in front of him and towards the teacher in front, who had taken out her roll call sheet. Lovino looked out the window, bored and feeling slightly peevish. He drummed his fingers onto his desk, and kicked the empty seat in front of him.

"It seems like we're missing a student..." The teacher noted out loud, before setting the clip board down onto her desk. The kid next to Lovino snickered quietly, and the teacher continued on with her introduction before setting up an introduction game, where everyone got to know each other.

Lovino positively loathed these games with a passion.

Everyone had to rearrange their desks into a round shape that resembled more of a square than a circle, and the game started. It was quite simple; introduce yourself, and say one fact about yourself that no one else in the class would know. Lovino was quite capable of doing just that, but to say it to a room of people he already decided he wanted nothing to do with, despite his rough nature, wracked his nerves. As his turn was coming up, he opened his mouth, feeling his cheeks burn slightly. Before he could say anything, the door slammed open, and the boy who had slammed it open jumped, seeming to be surprised that he opened it so hard.

"U-uh, hello, there," the boy, who was a little chubby, stuttered. Lovino didn't know whether to glare at the new boy for interrupting him or to look indifferent for buying him some more time before he had to inevitably introduce himself. "I guess I'm late? Hahaha..."

Lovino decided to raise an eyebrow at the boy. He seemed extremely awkward, and he even almost felt sorry for him. Almost. The teacher gave a friendly smile over to the boy, and directed him to pull the empty desk, which had been left out of their makeshift not-quite-circle of desks, and have Lovino and another girl shift their desks over to fit the new boy's desk in. With some grumbling from Lovino, and a few ear piercing screeches of the desks scraping against the floor, the new boy had a space in their game.

Lovino pursed his lips, feeling a nervous, stomach twisting feeling take over him as the rest of the group looked over at him for his introduction. "I...I'm L-Lovino Vargas...and...and..." He could feel the class' expectant stares and he could feel his cheeks turn bright red, feel his heart thunder in his small chest like it wanted to beat its way out-

"I like tomatoes!" he exclaimed, and when he realized what he said, he wanted to run from the classroom and hide in the boy's restroom for the rest of the school year. He worried his lip and shot a faltering glare to one of the boys, Alfred, when he heard a quiet snicker come from him. He hoped that the sort of awkward boy that had wandered in late would mess up so he could feel better about his own introduction.

"Um...I'm Antonio Fernandez-Carriedo, nice to meet you..." Antonio kept his gaze down, and he squirmed slightly in his seat. "And uh..." He looked up briefly, looking around the room as if he were trying to pick something out that he could use for his fact about himself. He suddenly looked at Lovino, and Lovino, surprised, leered at him instinctively.

"Lomino is my friend!" The Spanish boy said suddenly, almost in response to Lovino's leer, his bottle green eyes holding Lovino's gaze. Lovino didn't know whether to feel indignant, or mortfified.

"My name is Lovino!" He cried out heatedly. "And I am I _not_  your friend!"

Despite the Italian's outcry, Antonio didn't seem to mind being named and shamed in his white lie. He just seemed to be happy that his turn was over. "Aww, Lovino, don't be so embarrased," Alfred teased from across the room.

"I am  _not_! I don't even know this guy!" Lovino squawked back. The teacher gave a small laugh, and told the two to quiet down. Lovino huffed quietly, turning away from Antonio, that jerk. He looked out the window again, feeling agitated, especially when he  _felt_  the new kid stare at the back of his head. By the time he turned back forward, his neck was cramping a bit from the odd position, and some bushy browed kid next to Alfred was speaking.

"My name is Arthur Kirkland. I like magic." As soon as Arthur finished, the new kid next to him burst into badly smothered laughter. Arthur visibly changed color, stood up at his desk, and shouted, "Don't make fun of my magic! I'll curse you so you'll grow up to have prune... ears! So you better apologize!" This only made the new kid laugh harder, and Lovino put a hand up to his mouth, hiding a laugh of his own. Alfred laughed along with them, before patting Arthur on the back none-too-gently.

"I'm Alfred, everyone! And I'm a hero, so I'll help you guys out!" Alfred boasted proudly, hand still on Arthur's back. Arthur, peeved still, shook off his hand and narrowed his eyes at Antonio.

After Alfred, there were only a few kids who had a turn before the game was over. Everyone had to move the desks back, and then they practiced multiplication, and read the book the class was given to read. The lunch bell rang, and many of the kids who bought lunch, Alfred included, rushed over to the cafeteria to get into line first. Lovino, who had brought lunch, had no rush to get anywhere except for the lunch table their class shared.

He noted, irritated, that the new kid was following him. Lovino held back the grumpy comment he was going to say, choosing to silently walk-stomp toward his class' table, and took a seat on the very edge. Across the plastic tabletop was Arthur, who pulled out something black and intimidating out of his green and blue lunchbox.

"What is that?" He didn't realize Antonio took the seat next to him. He scowled, but looked at Arthur, who had his face pinched up in a curiously interesting way at Antonio.

"None of you business, you - you twat!" Arthur snatched up the lump, glaring at Antonio as he took a crunchy bite out of it.

"That was food?" Antonio asked, eyebrows pressing together. Arthur looked like he was about to swallow and retort something, but -

_Whack!_

A hard, bright yellow plastic tray was slammed unceremoniously onto the table, and Alfred jumped in next to Arthur, effectively startling him.

"Yo-u idiot!" Arthur coughed, semi-choking on his burnt meal.

"Woah! Artie, you okay?!" Alfred yelled at the top of his lungs, fist thumping Arthur's back in a vigorous, energetic way that did not look effective. "Don't go to the light, okay?! Someone should teach you to not eat burnt food!"

While Antonio watched in semi-alarm, eating a churro, the Italian at the table stared incredulously. "What the  _hell_?"

Alfred stopped in his lively ministrations to gasp melodramatically towards Lovino, and Arthur choked, swallowing. "You said a bad word!"

"Yeah, I did," Lovino challenged.

"That's not good! The hero can't allow that!"

"Shut up!"

Lunch ended with Lovino grabbing one of Antonio's churros and using it to floppily hit Alfred on his blond head. "H-hey! You're like the villain in my comic book, haha - ARGH there's cinnamon goodness in my eyes!"

* * *

After Lunch was Recess, and Alfred went off to the boy's bathroom, Arthur in tow, so he could "c _heck for any crumbs in my hair!_ ". Lovino left his lunch box at the table, and walked over and out towards the bench near the soccer field, preferring to stay away from the other students. He turned, and was face-to-face with -

"You followed me again!" Lovino pushed himself off the seat, ready to walk away from the new student. "You're like some giant puppy - go away!" He yelled, flapping his arm in an attempt to shoo the Spaniard away.

The Spaniard grabbed his hand, and Lovino was faced to turn towards him after trying to unproductively pull his arm away. "What?" he asked scathingly. Despite the semi-okay lunch with him and the other two blondes, Lovino did  _not_  want to spend time, or be caught spending time, with Antonio.

The other boy looked uncomfortable, almost. "I-" he gave a short look towards the soccer field next to them, and the fifth grade boys playing soccer. "I don't have anyone to do stuff with during recess."

Lovino scowled, and looked towards where the other had stared. "Then go play with them, Anthony."

"It's Antonio!" The Spaniard pouted. "And they probably don't want to play with someone like me..."

"What? Don't be such a pansy." Lovino said, looking into Antonio's eyes and ignoring his slight wince. "Go ask them to play with you, and leave me the heck alone." Lovino, with a hard tug, pulled his arm away, and ran to the other side of the playground, leaving Antonio to himself.

He looked back a while later, watching Antonio talking with the other boys, and he noticed some of the other boys were laughing. An unfamiliar, and unwelcome feeling twisted itself in the Italian's stomach, and Lovino ignored it, turning away. He continued to walk on, trying to ignore the nagging feeling at the back of his head. By the time he reached the woodchip laden playround, he couldn't help but turn again, his entire body still as he watched Antonio get pushed around. Despite the fear bubbling in his stomach, and the earlier annoyance from Antonio following him so much, Lovino ran towards the soccer field.

As he ran closer, he could pick out several hurtful comments thrown towards Antonio, and he felt his stomach drop.

"Hey!" He yelled, trying to ignore the fact that all the boys were bigger than him, and probably much stronger than him. "Hey! Stop it! Stop!" He yelled, and as soon as he came in a few several feet of the one of the boys, he jumped, tackling and colliding into him. Antonio, who had fallen onto the floor, was awestruck. Lovino, who was much smaller, was struggling to not get hit, and he struggled and tried to pry himself away from the boy. As soon as Lovino pulled and rolled and fought his way away from the fifth grader, he tried to help Antonio up. "A-are you okay-"

"L-Lovino!" Antonio's warning yell came too slow; He felt the air knocked out of him painfully as one of the boys pushed him onto the floor. Antonio pushed the boy who had knocked Lovino over, and ended up being wrestled to the floor by another.

Lovino was then pinned under the boy he had earlier, and the boy sat up, effectively pushing Lovino down. "Ha, look guys, a wimpy shrimp and some fatty he's trying to protect, how sad." The fifth grader laughed, and some of his friends joined in. Lovino grit his teeth, fear bubbling up into his lungs and constricting his breathing - he closed his eyes and turned his head to the side.

"I-I'm sorry," he heard, and Lovino opened his eyes to a similarly pinned down Antonio near by.

"You better be," Lovino said quietly, all of the venom he should have had in his voice, absent. He could feel his eyes burn a bit. "Y-you better save me next time, or-" He didn't get to finish; the older boy atop of him forcefully turned his head towards him.

"Shut up," he said, looking down at Lovino. Lovino gasped out in fear, watching the older boy's fist close pull back. Where were the teachers who looked over the kids at recess?! He thought frantically, eyes glued to the other's fist. "After this, you and your boyfriend better not bother us, got it?"

"S-stop!" Antonio cried out, realization in his eyes. In the corner of Lovino's peripheral vision, he saw Antonio struggle.

Lovino closed his eyes as the older boy's fist came down -

_Thump!_

Lovino gasped out, eyes wide as the boy on top of him was hit square in the face by... was that his lunch box?

"Leave him alone!" Alfred yelled, running over, and like how Lovino had done earlier for Antonio, except with much more speed and strength, the blond tackled the boy about to hit Lovino down. Lovino scrambled up, and watched as Arthur, on one of the tree's branches above them, let his blackened leftover lunch rain onto the boys below. "Take that! Idiots!"

Antonio, freed from the other boy, followed Alfred's example, and Lovino wiped his eyes free of liquid. One of the boys tried to get away, and Lovino ran, jumping onto his back. And even though he had felt fear earlier, for both him and Antonio, he couldn't help but laugh as he saw the Alfred, Arthur, and even Antonio all try and support each other - and him.

* * *

The only way the first day of school could have been even better than it had turned out to be would only be if they hadn't gotten in trouble for their fight with the fifth graders. Granted, the older boys had gotten into the same amount of trouble, if not more. Lovino couldn't help but snicker quietly as the teacher rebuked one of the older boys. She turned back and gave Lovino a disapproving stare at his snicker.

"  
Three days of Detention," she said gravely to Lovino, Antonio, Arthur, and Alfred. "You're lucky you all aren't getting suspended! Even Expelled!" She turned towards the fifth graders, eyebrows furrowing. "And you boys should know better! Picking on the younger children - you should be setting an example for them! One week of detention for you!" Some of them groaned, and their leader snuck a hateful stare towards the quartet of fourth graders. Lovino, braver since the teacher was around to protect him, stuck his tongue out.

The teacher let them out first, before the fifth graders, and the four of them walked down the hallway. "Darn, I wanted to eat the rest of my lunch, too." Arthur said half-heartedly.

"Eh, I wouldn't." Alfred chimed in cheerfully, letting his hands go behind his head in a carefree manner. "That stuff's nasty, haha."

"Is not!"

"Is  _toooo_!"

As the blond duo bickered, Lovino looked up at Antonio, who had a frown on. He looked away quickly as Antonio looked at him. "I'm sorry Lovi." He said seriously, and lips pulled down in a frown.

Lovino shrugged, all together not too sure on how he should answer. Angry? Annoyed? Nonchalant? G... grateful? Instead, he felt his cheeks turn pink, and he turned his head away as he answered in the only way he knew how: "M-my name's not 'Lovi' - it's Lovino! Idiot!" Antonio's face broke into a grin, and he let out a bright laugh.

"Okay. Lovino." Antonio said, his smile still sticking onto his face. It slowly toned down, into something a little bit serious, and Lovino couldn't help but think the expression almost seemed too _adult_ -like to be on his childish face. "I... I want to get stronger - like Alfred! So that you don't have to fight and stuff when I get in trouble."

Lovino felt a smile twitch at the corner of his mouth. "You better, 'cause you owe me." Antonio nodded, his earlier, brighter mood coming back. By now, Alfred and Arthur had finished their little spat and had caught up to Lovino and Antonio, falling into step with them.

"Are we friends?" Antonio breathed out quietly, breaking the silence after everyone had quieted down. Alfred nodded approvingly, trying to sling his arms around the other three boys.

"Heck yeah!" Lovino and Arthur both shrugged off Alfred's arms, and Antonio laughed alongside Alfred.


	2. two - the cafeteria feud and new rivals (?!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "A prank?" Antonio asked, apprehension clear in his voice.

The three days of detention, thankfully, were during the entire lunch and recess period, rather than being held after school. Lovino, though not in the least regretful of what they had done, now that it was over, wouldn't have known what to do if his  _Nonno_  had learned about it. Fortunately, he never found out.

Though the school  _had_  sent the phone call about his fight to his parents, they did not get it, for they were busy with their jobs and almost never home. Instead of them taking care of him and his baby brother, Feliciano, it was their  _Nonno_  who looked after them.

At the moment, they were studying some more math during class, and were working in groups. Naturally, Lovino was working with his newfound friends. Alfred was still busy solving the first problem, yet, when they first started, the blond had pushed up his glasses and enthusiastically said, "I can do this, easily! You're gonna have to let me take the math spotlight today, Arthur!" Funnily enough, Arthur was already moving onto his tenth problem, leaving Alfred in the metaphorical dust.

Lovino tapped the eraser of his pencil against his cheek. He looked up from his paper and it's jumble of numbers, trying to peek at Arthur's scrawling handwriting. Antonio, who had taken the seat next to him, was also trying to make sense of Arthur's messy handwriting. The other blond, who had finally finished the problem he was working on, slammed his pencil onto the desk and let a bright, accomplished grin stretch on his face. Arthur, face down as he worked on the math problems, snickered. Alfred barely noticed it.

"Hey," Lovino, still bent over to look at Arthur's answers, said. "Can I see what you did on number seven?"

Arthur looked up, and brushed some of his sandy bangs to the side, before turning his paper around so Lovino could see it right side up. "Okay," he began as his green eyes looked down onto the paper before briefly looking back up. "First, you have to carry the two..."

Antonio looked over too, hastily scribbling down what Arthur was explaining.

Alfred sat back in his seat, and shifted, having already given up on the third problem and completely bored. "When is the bell gonna-"

_Riiing!_

"Well, lunch calls!" Alfred shot up, not bothering to push his chair in. "See ya guys at the table, alright?" And off went the American, half-tripping as he ran out the door, along with many other hungry students, leaving the classroom near empty, save for the few students who had brought their lunch.

"Hmph." Arthur stood up, and sighed as he looked down at Alfred's unfinished worksheet. "He didn't even put his stuff away."

"Eh, leave it." Lovino mumbled, stuffing his math sheet into his knapsack. "No one'll bother trying to take his work... he barely did anything." After he put it away into the appropriate folder, he pulled out his lunchbox, Arthur and Antonio following suit. Arthur took another look back at Alfred's worksheet, before walking towards the desk and stuffing it inside Alfred's cubby.

At Lovino's questionable, and impatient look, Arthur had stiffly replied, cheeks slightly tinged red. "I-I don't want Alfred to come crying to me when his paper gets lost or something! His stupid paper could... could...!" Shrugging, Lovino left sputtering British boy for the cafeteria with Antonio following closely. Arthur hastily grabbed his lunch box, and made his way to the lunch room.

When they made it to their side of the table, they were met with three unfamiliar faces and full seats.

"Hey!" Lovino shouted, always the first one to be frank and straightforward. "What's the big deal? Get back to your table or whatever!"

One of the boys, with wide brown eyes and soft brown hair, turned at the sound of Lovino's yell.

"H... hey... Lovino, calm down," Antonio said mildly as he tried to calm down the Italian. Arthur, raising a blond brow, sat his lunchbox onto the table.

"This is our table." he stated calmly. One of the boys, with dark hair and blue eyes, looked as if he was about to open his mouth when Alfred appeared, forcing his way in as he slammed his lunch tray onto the table's plastic surface. The American began to eat, looking up at his friends while doing so.

"Wey gus wet ah woo waiding foh?" He asked, and Arthur huffed, ready to reprimand him.

Lovino beat him to it. "Alfred, you dummy - look!" The short Italian gestured to the boys - the one who opened his mouth earlier had closed it, and gave Lovino a hard stare.

"We were sitting here last year." One of the boys said, brown eyes narrowed. Some of his blonde hair fell onto his eyes. He turned back to the table as if he had settled the matter.

"BUT we were here first  _this_  year!" The Italian shouted, fingers gripping the handle of his lunch box. Antonio's hands went up to Lovino's shoulder, but kept a troubled expression pointed at the three boys in their seats.. "Lovino, take it easy..."

"I'm trying to get our seats back!" Lovino barked as he who looked up at Antonio, shrugged his arm off, and put his free hand on the other kid's shoulder in an attempt to get the blond boy to turn around. "Get off our table!"

"No way! Our table this year sucks - we're taking our old one back!" The blond one argued back, and stood up. "Go find some other table or something. Our old seats are open still - you can go sit at those."

"Get  _off_!" Lovino shouted, and garnered the attention of a few other students sitting at the surrounding tables.

"You're not even supposed to be here! This is our class's table!" Arthur piped up, who was tired and wanted to sit down.

"So what? It's just a stupid table." The brown haired one mumbled. Lovino scowled and opened his mouth to retort,  _No, it's not just any stupid table, it's_ our _stupid table!_

"Yeah, you're right." Antonio had cut Lovino off, and slowly pulled him back to their intruder's old table. Lovino thrashed, and Arthur, disbelieving of what Antonio had done, gripped the back of Alfred's shirt and dragged him over to the other pair.

"Antonio!" The Italian wrestled his way out of Antonio's loose grip, and punched his shoulder. "What the heck are you thinking?!"

"Yeah, are you trying to get us kicked off of our  _own_  table!"

"No, but if that went on, we would have just been arguing the entire lunch - we should just go ask the cafeteria monitor!"

"Are you kidding? Mr. Bates wouldn't help us out, he'd just brush it off!"

Alfred stayed quiet as the three argued their cases, and finally let out a quick, "Aha!"

Antonio, Lovino and Arthur looked towards Alfred. "I have the best idea," Alfred said, eyes shining as he pushed up his glasses. "A prank! Then that'll teach them to leave our table alone!"

"A prank?" Antonio asked, apprehension clear in his voice.

"Heck yeah!" The enthusiastic blond shouted, and Arthur knocked on his head.

"If we  _are_  going to pull any pranks, then you shouldn't be yelling it out so loudly!" The Brit huffed, laying his unopened lunch box on the table.

"Well, you shouldn't be yelling it out loud, either." Antonio mumbled, fingers clasping together on the table. He eyed their old table across the lunch room, and looked towards their other table mates, each of them unfamiliar. He gave a small smile, but was promptly ignored.

The four of them sat at the very end of the table, looking at each other expectantly. Huffing, Lovino narrowed his eyes, propping his head on a petite hand. "Well, Alfred, it was  _your_  idea. How exactly are we going to do this?"

"I was kinda thinking you guys would have an idea, or something." Alfred beamed, pushing his glasses up.

"Well, I have an idea," Arthur muttered. "Why don't we go and kick them off our seats?"

"No!" The little Italian objected, eyes trained on their old table. "We're gonna teach them a lesson."

"Are you sure you're not  _scared_?" Arthur jabbed, clicking the plastic lock on his lunch box with a short click. He pulled out his lunch. "'Cause that's what it sounds like to me-"

"Of course he's not scared!" Antonio defended. Lovino huffed.

"I don't need you to stand up for me-"

"But I want to!"

"Guys." Alfred said, trying to butt into their squabble. "Guuuuuysss!  _Guys!_  Stop!" Arthur helped by throwing a particularly large piece of scone at Antonio.

"Ow! Why'd you do that?"

Alfred coughed, trying to grab their attention like how his father did at the dinner table when he fussed. It didn't quite get the same kind of stiff-backed attention, but nevertheless worked. "While you guys were arguing, I thought of a great plan!"

Ever doubtful, Arthur raised a brow. "I thought you said you didn't have any ideas."

"Well, now I do!" He gazed at Lovino. "Lovino, catch!" He quickly tossed a small, red circle over at the Italian.

"What the heck is -  _GET IT OFFFF_  -" Lovinio screeched, hands frantically patting at his shirt and falling over - Antonio, who sat beside him, began to pat and fall over the other boy in an attempt to get whatever it was off.

"Alfred! What did you you throw?" Antonio half wailed, hands still doing more bad than good it their attempt to rid Lovino of the mysterious red thing.

"A ladybug?" Antonio stopped patting when Alfred said this.

"Lovino - you're gonna hurt it! Stop!" He switched tactics, pudgy hands covering Lovino's to hold them down. "Ah - there it is!" He gently plucked the innocent beetle, letting it crawl on his fingers.

"That is so disgusting," Lovino said, features in a grimace as he warily eyed the ladybug. "Get it out. Now. And Alfred - what the heck was that for?!" He snapped his head to face Alfred, his cheeks stained red from embarrassment and anger.

"That's my plan!"

"To frighten them with a little ladybug?" Arthur questioned, eyebrows furrowed. "Just because Lovino's afraid of them doesn't mean those other boys will be."

"Nah, the little guy was just kinda there, so I decided t use him. I was kinda thinking more like putting bugs in their food." The blond laughed, propping up his head with both hands.

"But they might accidentally eat the poor bugs!" Antonio said, as the ladybug crawled on his shoulder. Lovino scooted as far as he could from him.

"That's the point." Alfred grinned amiably.

"We can't do that!" With a cry, Antonio covered the ladybug.

"Well... maybe we could dump trash on their heads."

"I am  _not_  touching trash."

"Or possibly feed them Artie's cooking?"

"Are you trying to hint something, Alfred?"

"Or maybe even tie their shoelaces together!"

"Alfred are you listening-"

"Oh! We can pants them, hahaha."

"Alfred!"

* * *

They had spent all lunch debating, well mostly Alfred and Arthur were the ones arguing, while Antonio played with his new friend - Fabio the ladybug. Lovino leered at the spotted beetle, until the recess bell rung. Regrettably, when Antonio had stepped out, Fabio took his chance and flew away.

"Good riddance." Lovino muttered, watching the beetle fly up and away. He looked back over to the other three. "So, got any plans?"

"Nah," Pushing his glasses back up, Alfred strode ahead. "But I'm pretty sure we can think of something." He lead the party to their usual 'base', located in the roomy gap underneath the playground equipment. The blond, as usual, ran ahead of the group.

Antonio walked between Lovino and Arthur, still mourning over Fabio. He was so absorbed in his lost that he didn't realize that Alfred had stopped in front of their base, and walked into him.

"Oof!"

"Alfred, what's the big deal?" Arthur asked, looking around the taller blond to look inside their hiding area. "Not you again!"

"What?" Curious and scowling, Lovino looked inside. Antonio ducked his head to peer inside. All four had their cheeks pushing together to look in through the small gap.

"Yeah?" A familiar blond head said from inside. Sitting next to him were the other two who had taken over their table. "If you don't need anything, then get out of  _our_  secret base."

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guh, short chapter for now! Thanks so much for the kudos and the comment, guys!! <33


	3. Kiddie Rumble XXXVIII (Sound familiar, anyone?!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "...You want me to share with you?" Lovino said, and he definitely didn't want to share. At all.

"Wh... what are you doing in here?" Cheeks still pushed together, Antonio's words sounded slightly garbled. Despite the troubled feeling welling up inside him at the sight of the intruders in their base, he couldn't help but feel giddy at the feeling of Lovino's cheek pressed against his own. The three boys inside the playground equipment's gap stared at the four of them.

"What  _do_  you think we're doing in here?" The brown haired one asked, meek disposition peeling back as he sneered. His back sat against one of the inside walls in the back corner.

"We just want our base back." Alfred was the first to pull his face back, and he propped himself on his hands and knees, crawling between Arthur's and Lovino's legs to get into the gap underneath the platform. "I mean, you already took our table, can't we have it back?"

"You're pretty dumb if you think we're just going to give it up."

"Hey! Only  _I_  can call Alfred dumb!" Scrambling on his hands and knees, Arthur climbed in after Alfred.

"Yeah!" Alfred agreed. He shook his head, and pouted. "What? No you can't."

"Yes, I definitely can, dummy." He argued back, totally ignoring the matter at hand. Lovino let out a loud sigh, and crawled in after, Antonio trailing after him.

"Look, we just want our base back." Lovino said, eyes narrowed into hazel slits. Antonio, still behind him, sat up, accidentally bumping his head. "You'll regret it if you don't." He threatened, mouth down turned in a scowl.

"What are you gonna do, short-stuff?" The black haired one asked as he crawled towards Lovino under the low ceiling. Lovino fought the urge to shrink back away from the taller boy.

"Y... you'll see." He said, unsure of himself - he heard it leak out into his voice.

"Uh huh." The other boy said, unimpressed. His hand shot out, and pushed Lovino back, making him fall back against Antonio.

"O-oof!"

"Are you okay, Lovino?" Antonio said, and Lovino shrugged off his arm, clearly ruffled up. Antonio gazed back at the other boy, mouth down turned. "Pushing isn't nice, you know. You can really hurt someone!"

"I don't really care," the other boy muttered, and pushed them both again, this time hard enough for them to be out of the base. Lovino could see Arthur and Alfred get similar treatment by the other two intruders.

"You can't kick us out of our own base!" Lovino shouted, and shot back up, ready to push him. He was easily pushed back, and Antonio caught him. He was going to try and lunge at him again, but Antonio held him back. Arthur and Alfred both began to brush the dirt off their sleeves and pants, both watching Antonio.

"Don't."

To their surprise, Lovino did not shrug him off angrily, or verbally rebuke him; instead, Lovino stopped, turned away from their playground base, and gently shrugged his hand off. Leading the group, he walked-stomped over to the only tree at the very edge of the soccer field, and plopped himself down, knees held up to his chest.

The three followed suit, and when they had all seated down, Lovino grumbled, "This sucks."

"We'll think of something," Arthur reassured, and neatly folded his legs underneath him. "We  _should_  just prank them or something - show them a thing or two."

"We'll make sure they never do this again!" Lovino pulled out a large clump of grass, and threw it half-heartedly at Antonio. "We'll - we'll shove bugs down their shirts, and pants them in front of the girls, and - and-" He bit his lip, stopping himself.

Antonio brushed some of the grass off his shirt and from his messy nest of hair, and scooted closer. "It's okay - we'll get it back - promise."

"Stupid." Lovino muttered, feeling his cheeks slighted flush. "Don't promise something if you don't know it for sure."

"I'll make sure it happens!" The Spaniard said a little too enthusiastically.

"Don't think I'll let them steal our table and base, and get away with it," The British boy nodded in agreement. Alfred stood up, and began to pace around them, pausing to pick off lichen off the tree. He cupped his chin between his thumb and forefinger in a mock thinking pose, and stroked his imaginary beard.

"We'll throw some bugs in." Alfred said, standing up.

"In the base?" Skepticism laced Arthur's voice, and a thick brow rose. "What kind of bugs?"

"You know," Alfred scratched his chin, and looked up at the tree. "Like spiders and stuff."

"And ladybugs?" Lovino's face scrunched up in a perculiar fashion.

"No!" Distress was apparent in Antonio's face. "Not them!"

Alfred shrugged, and squatted, his hand going out to pat the grassy floor. When he raised his hand, a small black thing was pinched between his fingers. He shot back up and spun on his heel, hand in front of Lovino's face.

"W-waah! Stop!" Lovino held his hands up to his face and only put them down to push Antonio in front of him as he jumped back a few steps.

"We're going to need more than that." Arthur commented, inspecting the spider from a safe distance. "And stop that! You're going to get bitten!"

"Like twenty five?" The American tried, picking up another spider. "It's okay, I'll pick up the ones that can't bite." He picked up a long legged spider. "Like this one!"

"Ugh, just don't bring them near me." Lovino said distastefully in his childish voice, eyeing the three spiders warily.

-x-

"Got them all!" Triumphant, Alfred raised a hole-poked Ziploc bag in the air, and as soon Arthur came within distance, he began to wave it in excitement, much to the spiders' horror and ill-fortune. "See it?"

"Yeah," Was his reply. "Is this where you were this entire time? You should have told us - we were waiting for you after school at the front gates!"

"Sorry guys," Alfred scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. He pushed his glasses up after, and the bag shifted as the spiders inside walked around. "Lemme just throw these guys into the base, and when those boys come in there, wham! There'll be spiderwebs and spiders inside by recess tomorrow!"

He made his way to the playground set, and unzipped the bag, crawled underneath the equipment, and turned the bag upside down, letting the spiders fall onto the woodchip laden floor. They scuttled and crawled around, hiding underneath wood chips and climbing up on the walls. One of them escaped from the area, and Antonio sidestepped it as he looked inside. "It's kinda scary in here."

"No kidding." Lovino grumbled. He was a good ten feet away from the playground set. "I hope they get scared."

"Eh, we'll find out tomorrow," Alfred said, climbing out. He plucked a spider that was busy escaping, and threw it back in with a flick of his wrist.

The next day came with much anticipation - Lovino jumped out of bed this morning,  _almost_  excited to get to school. He had eaten his breakfast quickly, wolfing down food, and almost ran to school, getting to the front gates before his friends did. He uncharacteristically bounced on his heels, hands going up to hold onto his backpack straps.

"Heya, Lovinooo!" Lovino turned his head, and saw Alfred jogging down the street towards him. He seemed to be racing against a slow moving car. Lovino lifted his hand in a short wave, and leaned against the metal bars of the front gates. The car had won, of course, even though Alfred had been running - he was only a few feet behind when the car stopped in front of the school gates. Arthur stepped out from the front passenger seat, backpack on and lunchbox in hand.

"Good morning," Arthur said to Lovino, giving a small smirk to Alfred's red, tired out face. "You're pretty early today."

"Uh huh," Lovino nodded. "I wanted to see-"

"Hey guys!" Antonio stumbled from the opposite end of the sidewalk, waving as he tried to keep his new, too large backpack from falling off his shoulders. "Wow, even Lovi beat me!"

Lovino ignored the last part, and checked out Antonio's backpack. "Why's it so big?"

"It's my brother's." Antonio said simply. "He gave it to me cause he moved out, and told me to use it."

"That's so awesome!" Alfred crowed, bounding over to Antonio and looking at the backpack. "I wish I had an older bro to do that to me!"

"It's not as cool as the expressions on those guys when they see what we did!" Arthur said, eyes twinkling as he glanced at the elementary school. "We should get going, though."

The four of them trotted off to their classroom, occasionally bumping into the students trying to get to their classes, too. They managed to get to class on time, and began their studies. Everything had continued smoothly, with Lovino tapping his foot on the floor in his excitement - he  _couldn't_  wait until recess to start.

Oddly, during their reading time, Lovino would see Alfred's head look up towards the door. The blonde had a troubled look on his face, and his eyes wouldn't leave the door after a few times of looking up. Lovino followed his gaze, and saw one of the boys from the group that stole their table and base, making faces at Alfred.

"Just ignore him." Lovino mumbled, trying not to disturb the others. Even though he had said that, he couldn't help but stare at the boy also, who had just noticed Lovino. He made a face at the Italian, scrunching his eyebrows, and scowling deep, as if he were making an impression of -

"That jerk!" Lovino shouted, and almost everyone in the room looked up to stare at him. He bristled, face pink, and ducked his head back to his book, fuming. He continued on, and whispered to Alfred, "Did you see that?" When he got no response, he looked up to Alfred, who was busy as he tried to smother his laughs. "It's not funny!"

Alfred continued, his shoulders shook and he tried to stifle his laughs. Antonio glanced over to the door also, curiosity piqued. The boy on the other side of the door noticed, and puffed his cheeks, squishing his face against the glass. Antonio, embarrassed, ducked his head, similar to how Lovino had earlier.

Lovino scowled, and yelled out, "Mrs.-!"

"Lovino, you should be reading, not yelling," Was the reply from the teacher.

"But, there's a-!" Alfred yelled, too, and the teacher gave them both a disapproving frown.

"Why are you two making such a ruckus? Everyone else is trying to read, quiet down, please."

Arthur looked out the door, and saw the boy lifting his hands up to his eyebrows, imitating the British boy's own. "There's a boy outside the door making fun of me!" He too, yelled, distress in his voice as he pointed at the boy. The boy saw this, grinned, and ducked back out to the hallway to make his escape. The teacher looked over to the door, and saw no one.

She gave their table a disappointed look, before shaking her head and continuing the book she was reading.

"Ugh!" Lovino laid his head none-too-gently on his open book. "Why can't recess come any faster?"

-x-

There were no seats left on their new table.

"You've got to be kidding," Alfred groaned, lunch tray in hand. "I just wanna eaaat!" Arthur walked up to the kids seated on "their" seats, and poked one of the girls sitting there.

"Excuse me," He said, and one of the girls turned around and giggled. "I - You're on our seats..."

"Apparently, some spiders from outside decided to live in our table, so we decided to sit here until the spiders go away." She pointed to their old table, which was located right next to the slightly ajar doors that led to the play ground. Many of the other students avoided like that one poor boy with cooties.

"But, these are  _our_  seats!" Antonio said, feeling waves of deja-vu as he frowned.

"Sorry." She said, shrugging and turning away.

"Lovi, say something!" Antonio said, turning on his heel to a red-faced Lovino.

"I-I... uhm..." Lovino shut down, useless for the moment in the face of fifth grade girls. Antonio gave a helpless look to Alfred and Arthur, but both were wrapped up in another argument.

"The nice thing to do would be to let them keep the seats for today!" Alfred said.

"Yeah, but it's  _our_  seats!" Arthur said with enough vigor to make his lunchbox rattle and shake.

Lunch had ended with the four of them eating lunch outside, underneath the large chestnut tree they had sat out at during recess the day before. No one was particularly happy about it, especially Arthur. "It's so dirty though!" He exclaimed, tentatively laying his lunchbox on the floor.

"You can lay on my jacket, then." Alfred nodded his head. "Kinda like in the movies my mom likes to watch, hahaha!"

Arthur, bit his lip, but shrugged anyways, and plopped his behind on the worn red cotton.

-x-

When all the children went out for recess, Lovino and the others quickly ran over to their old base to see how the other boys would react to the spiders; what they found, however, did not please any of them, most of all Alfred, who had spent a good two hours collecting all the spiders.

The gap underneath the playground equipment was void of spiders, and full of the intruders from the day before.

"No way," Alfred said, looking for spiders as he peeked his head inside. The three boys inside looked over at him, ready to shoo him out. "Did you three happen to see any spiders or something?" He asked, dissapointed.

"Nah," The leader said. He gave Alfred a glare. "What are you doing here, anyways? Get out."

Despite outnumbering the three kids, Lovino, Antonio, Alfred, and Arthur had been properly kicked out. The little Italian kicked the woodchips, accidentally getting some on Arthur's pants.

"Some idea, you had, genius!" Lovino growled, face red and puffing up. Alfred looked as if someone had kicked his puppy and fed it Arthur's food.

"I know, right? It was so good too! How could it  _not_  work?!" Alfred kicked the wood chips in a Lovino-esque fashion, getting some more on Arthur's pants.

"Stop kicking them!" The British boy protested, swatting the wood away. Some of them hit Antonio, who was sitting dejectedly on the floor. He seemed too upset to even brush them off. Lovino offered him a rough, embarrassed, and some-what helpful swat, which had pushed the woodchips off Antonio. Alfred did his mock beard stroking thinking technique again, tongue sticking out.

He continued stroking his imagined beard and began to pace towards the place they had been forced to eat lunch at. The other three followed, not really sure what to do anymore, seeing that their spider plan failed horribly.

Lovino plopped down on the grass, and Antonio followed and watched the Italian pluck out the green blades.

"Eggs." Alfred said simply and suddenly, snapping his fingers. Boredly, Lovino blew all of the grass collected in his palm at Antonio, who didn't really seem to mind.

"Eggs?" Antonio echoed, and some of the grass in his hair fell onto his face as he turned to Alfred.

"Yup." Alfred nodded. "We're gonna toss eggs into the base."

"That's a horrible idea," Arthur groaned, brows furrowed. "We can get in trouble-!"

"Not if they don't know it's us!" Alfred countered cheerfully, pumping his fist in self-congratulations.

" _Ugh_ , Alfred, those boys will know it's us. The plan's stupid - like you and those spiders!" Arthur pointed at Alfred, and Alfred sputtered.

"First of all my plan was genius, right Lovino?!"

"Stupid! I was being sar... sarcasmic!" Lovino shouted back.

"I think the word was  _sarcastic_ , Lovi." Antonio piped up helpfully, which Lovino did not appreciate.

"No one wants your input, Antonio!" A pause. "Or your dumb nicknames!"

"Fine, no eggs, then!" Alfred crowed dramatically, shushing everyone. He clutched at his chest and fell backwards, eyes closed. With an 'oof!' he landed flat on his back and opened his eyes again. "... How about ladybugs?"

"Alfred!"

-x-

The four boys planned with childlike imagination and determination every day; they talked during class breaks and lunch underneath the lonely chestnut tree on the edge of the soccer field, spewing silly ideas that ranged from pants-ing to dressing up as Native Americans, "to cause a ruckus" (which was Alfred's shot down idea, which was complete and utter genius as said by the American boy). Spring came, and even though it had been a few months of eating their lunches through the mild Fall and Winter, they had not come up with any ideas that worked.

"I'm tired of making ideas!" Lovino groaned, hair mussed from being pressed against the trunk of the chestnut tree.

"Yeah... why don't we just hang out?" Antonio said, jumping to Lovino's side. None of their plans had really taken off, and the ones that did sunk in a sea of failure. Or burnt scones. "We can grab ice cream from the ice cream truck after school!"

"And let those villains get away with taking our base?" Alfred whined. He turned to Arthur, silently asking for backup.

"I'd have to agree with Antonio," Arthur shrugged, reading his book; he started to not care about revenge anymore - it wasn't that fun if it never worked. "I heard that the ice cream man sold those fudge pops, too." Alfred made a face.

"Vanilla is the way to go, Artie!"

"Ew, vanilla is so...  _plain_." Lovino stuck his tongue out. "I'd rather take one of those double -stick popsicles."

"Ohhh, like those strawberry ones?" Antonio laughed, eyes bright and shiny. "Those are my favorites! Did you know there's stuff printed on the sticks?"

"...Y-yeah, I know," Lovino scratched his cheek, feeling his cheeks grow pink as Antonio gave him an approving nod. "Those are the ones I like, too."

-x-

"Ugh, Alfred is always late." Arthur complained as they all waited outside the school; it had become a common thing for them to hang out for a good half hour to scheme up revenge plots, and they had all kept it up. The ice cream truck, which waited outside the school to lure in little kids, was patiently waiting, since Antonio had asked if the driver could stay until their missing friend came. Soon enough, Alfred ran towards the group, late as always.

"Sorry guys!" Alfred said cheerily. "I forgot my money in my backpack cubby!"

The boys walked towards the truck, dishing out their money into one pile, since Alfred was short on change and Antonio had extra he was willing to share. The money was then given to Arthur, who was tall enough to reach the truck window and the only one who could remember everyone's orders and hand the ice creams back without any mess.

"Erm... one of the fudgy pops please... yes, Alfred, I remember the vanilla cone... and two of the strawberry double popsicles, please." Arthur was on his tippy toes as the man went to the back of the truck to grab the ice creams. He came back to the window with Alfred's and Arthur's ice creams, but looked a bit apologetic as he handed only one double-stick strawberry popsicle and the change for the missing one.

"I only have one more of the strawberry, kiddos," He said with a small smile, "Tomorrow I'll definitely have more, though!"

Lovino puffed his cheeks out, snatching the only strawberry pop left, and ignored the way Antonio looked at him and the ice cream.

"Ah... do you think..." Antonio blushed, with a dopey smile on his face. Alfred and Arthur were busy eating up their ice cream, because it was so delicious. Lovino blushed, seeming to know what Antonio was going to say.

"...You want me to share with you?" Lovino said, and he definitely didn't want to share. At all. He turned away from the other boy, ice cream in hand.

"Loviiii...!" Antonio gushed, in a whiney voice, pushing himself forward to hug Lovino. Since he weighed much more that the tiny boy, they had almost toppled over. "Sharing is caring!"

"Sharing means I get less!" Lovino turned his head to face Antonio, stuck his tongue out. "And watch it! You almost made me drop the ice cream!"

"But if you shared, and you dropped your ice cream I would be able to give you my piece!" Antonio laughed, still playfully grabbing for the ice cream. With a sqeaky growl, Lovino ripped the wrapper off the popsicle, and snapped the strawberry bar cleanly in half.

"F-fine! Have half of the stupid ice cream." Lovino blushed, thrusting one half into Antonio's hand.

"Thanks, Lo-vi-no!" The taller boy sing-songed, and Lovino ran up to Alfred and Arthur in his ruffled state. The two blonds were already ahead and ready to go to the park near the school. Antonio caught up as well, tripping slightly on his way to join the group. Together, they crossed the street, and found a bench to sit on.

Alfred rested his head on the back of the bench, and whistled, startling a few birds walking a few distance away. "We should buy bread next time," He paused to lick at his vanilla cone and scrunched up his face. "Birds must have a sucky lunch."

"Bread to feed the birds?" Arthur asked, busy with his fudgy pop. Some of it dripped onto the paved walkway, and a beetle crawled up to the drop. "The sign says to not feed the animals, though."

"They must be starving, though! If I was a bird, I wouldn't want to eat leaves and twigs and stuff. That's gross."

"I don't think birds eat that kind of stuff, Alfred," Arthur snickered along with Lovino. Antonio made a face at the thought of eating twigs.

"If they did, I wouldn't want to be one." The Spanish boy said, and finished up his popsicle. He flipped the popsicle on its side to read the text on it. "...' _go instead where there is no path and leave a trail_.' Huh." He never really did get what these quotes and stuff meant - all he really knew was that they were really cool!

Lovino leaned over to read the popsicle stick's message, and shrugged. "That's only half, though," He gave another lick to the sticky sweet treat. "Right?" The Italian looked at his own stick. The words were half hidden by the rest of the strawberry flavored ice.

"Aw, man!" Alfred squawked as some of his vanilla ice cream plopped on the floor. "Now it looks like bird poo!"

"Gross," Antonio laughed, and Arthur stuck his tongue out in disgust. The Spanish boy turned back, catching Lovino's stare. The Italian felt himself blush, and busied himself by biting off the rest of his ice cream in one bite. He swallowed the cold, sweet treat, and looked at his stick.

" _Do not go where the path may lead,_ " Antonio read aloud from Lovino's popsicle stick. He took his own and aligned is sideways next to Lovino's. "See, it makes one whole sentence! Cool, huh?"

"Y-yeah," Lovino smiled, but bit his lip and turned his head. "But it's not like it's some miracle, or anything. It's just..."

"Cool!" Antonio completed his sentence cheerily. " 'Cause this one is yours and this one is mine and they match!"

Lovino felt his cheeks heat up again, and was about to spout a protest when Arthur stood up from his seat. "I have to get home soon," And Alfred, who lived in the same direction, jumped up, looking at his way-too-big wrist watch.

"I gotta get going, too! You two should start getting home!" Alfred and Arthur walked off backwards, waving to Antonio and Lovino until they had turned the corner. Antonio looked down to their popsicle sticks, and took Lovino's.

"Are you throwing them away?" Lovino asked as he picked up his backpack. He tried to pick up Antonio's too, but was quick to realize that he couldn't carry both.

"...Yeah," Antonio nodded, and headed to the trashcan, careful to not step on Alfred's bird-poo ice cream. He tossed the two sticks away . "We should go and walk home!"

Lovino nodded, and handed Antonio his bag, and turned his head when Antonio had to touch Lovino's hand to grab the backpack. He tried to hide his small smile, but by the way Antonio's face lit up he knew he probably didn't. "Let's."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> blah sorry about forgetting to post


	4. See you soon, Maybe later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Antonio's mom ruffles his hair, and gives him that same small smile, green eyes looking a little watery. "

"Have you ever thought about what you wanted to be when you grow up?" Lovino was caught off guard by Antonio's question, and furrowed his eyebrows together. He took a peek at Antonio, who looked down at the sidewalk as they strolled down the street.

"Uh... I dunno." Lovino said, and shrugged. His backpack slipped a bit off his shoulder. "I don't really want to do anything." A pause. "Maybe I could be a food critic. Don't they get paid to eat things?"

"Woooow, really?" Antonio asked, grinning madly. "My Mama asks me to taste-test all of her stuff - maybe I could do that, too?"

Lovino snorted, and brushed back his bangs. "Yeah. Maybe - but that's my job! Don't be a copycat!"

"But it would be so, so fun if I did it with you!" The Spanish boy turned to Lovino and hugged him, and tilted his body back as if he were trying to pick up Lovino - which he did, much to the boy's displeasure.

"Leeeeet meeee  _gooooo_!" Lovino screeched out as he was lifted high enough that his feet couldn't touch the floor anymore. He slapped Antonio's shoulders a few times to get the giggling boy's attention. " _Don't_  drop me!"

Antonio took a break in his giggling to let out a loud laugh, and he clumsily tried to spin around with Lovino in his shaky arms, which ended up with the two falling down to the sidewalk. Funny, it usually seemed to work in the shows that his Mama always watched...

"O-oof!" Luckily for Lovino, Antonio was there to cushion their fall. The bangs he had brushed back earlier were in his face again, and his hazel eyes were wide as he found himself face-to-face with the Spanish boy.

"I told you we would fall!" Lovino cried out, slapping his hand weakly on Antonio's shoulder. He scrambled off of Antonio, and ended up rolling off him and onto the cement. Antonio rubbed his chest, but was still smiling, despite having the wind knocked out of him. Upset that Antonio seemed to be okay with this, the Italian rolled away from Antonio, and huffed, cheeks red. "If... if you fell on me, then... I wouldn't be your friend anymore!"

Lovino was pleased from the audible gasp, smirking as he planned to get up - or not, because Antonio had latched onto him again. "Don't say such mean things, Lovino!" Lovino squirmed, and tried to worm his way out of the other boy's grasp. His cheeks felt uncomfortably red, and tried to switch the topic when he found he couldn't escape.

"Why did you ask about what I wanted to be?"

Always happy to answer Lovino, Antonio chirped, "My mama was asking me about it this morning! She's always talking about... erm..." His pudgy features scrunched up as he tried to recall what his mama always said. "...to always plan for the future. Because that way, you don't have to worry about money, and stuff." He let of Lovino to scratch his wavy hair with a thoughtful look on his face. "She's always reminding me now."

Finding his chance, Lovino shrugged and scrambled to his feet. He contemplated giving a hand to Antonio, but by the time he had made a decision, Antonio had already stood up. He dusted his shorts off, and picked up his backpack, which had fallen onto the sidewalk in their scuffle. They started to walk down the sidewalk again.

Lovino looked to the side at Antonio. "What did you want to be?" The boy looked confused, and Lovino rolled his eyes. "When you grow up, dumdum."

"Oh, I don't know..." Antonio laughed, and tried to do the same thinking pose Alfred had done before, his tongue poked out in concentration. After a moment of deep thinking, he gave an almost cheeky look at Lovino. "I just wanna do stuff with you."

"Ugh! You're so... so..." Lovino, ruffled up by how earnest Antonio's reply was, couldn't find the words in his fourth-grade-mind to describe how dumb Antonio was. He rubbed at his pink cheeks. He walked ahead faster, leaving Antonio a few feet behind him. Antonio trotted forward, and fell into step with Lovino.

x

School continued normally - Alfred and Arthur bickered, Antonio was stuck like glue to Lovino, and Lovino was happy with that. Though, he wouldn't admit it, even if he was threatened by those bullies from the beginning of the year. He propped his chin on a small fist, bored as the last few weeks of school started. The days seemed to get heavier as the Summer heat warmed up the afternoons, and the teacher began to let them slack off a bit as school neared its end. They were currently finishing the book they had started in the beginning of the year.

Lovino turned his head as Alfred yapped about  _"_ _being in fifth grade next year!_ " and " _getting to be a big kid!_ " - Arthur had nodded along, even though he didn't seem into it. Antonio, who was sitting beside Lovino, as always, was busy napping on his book. Other students were doing the same, or talking to friends about Summer vacation, and ultimately,  _fifth grade_.

The thought made him queasy - he knew there were three fifth grade teachers, each with separate classes, and the thought of not having a class with the other three boys made him feel uncomfortable and nervous, much like the introduction game in the beginning of the year. Lovino bit his lip, He shifted in his seat, too tired to engage in any sort of conversation with Alfred and unsure of whether or not to talk to Arthur, who seemed uninterested. Lovino turned to Antonio, poking his head.

"Hey," Lovino said, poking the other boy again. "Hey, wake up."

"Mmmmuh?" Antonio didn't open his eyes, and kept his head down on the book cover. "WhasitLovi?"

"I'm bored." The Italian groaned, and pushed his book away. "Do something."

"Uhm..." The other boy looked up, his left cheek red from being pressed against the book for so long. "I can't think of anything."

"Ugh."

Antonio let his head back down on the books, but turned his head so it faced Lovino. Lovino felt his lips quirk at Antonio's face, especially when the red side of his face was all squished up. Antonio returned his smile with a grin of his own.

"M... maybe you can go over to my house later?"

Lovino 'humphed', and crossed his arms over the plastic table top. "Why would I want to go to your house?"

"Cause it'd be so much fun, right?" Antonio replied easily, and his fingers came up to drum on the table. He felt a little bad that he didn't invite Alfred or Arthur. The two hadn't heard him, though, as Alfred was caught up in his plans for fifth grade and Arthur was just boredly nodding along to whatever Alfred was saying, still busy reading his book.

"Wh- well, your house is probably stupid," Lovino muttered, and though the corners of his lips were down, the blush on his cheeks said an entirely different thing. "Ugh, fine." It was then Lovino's turn to bury his face in his arms and on the book as Antonio shot up, surprised. He was sure Lovino was going to say no!

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"No, really?" Antonio's eyes glimmered, and Lovino wanted to slap his shoulder.

"Y-yes, yes! If you ask again I won't go!" Lovino stammered, and though he tried to make it seem like it, he didn't really regret his decision. He was grateful when the teacher told them to quiet down, because then he had a reason to bury his face in the boring old book and hide his smile.

x

The two boys had, after parting with Alfred and Arthur at the school gates, headed over to Antonio's. Nonno was attending one of Feliciano's art class's parent night, so Lovino could easily stay until five, or even six at night, without having to bother about Nonno missing him.

For some reason, being at Antonio's house made being with Antonio,  _alone_ , ten times more awkward - but, perhaps the awkwardness was all on Lovino's part; he had never been comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings. Lovino coughed, and Antonio greeted his mom before leading them to his room. With a dull thump, and a quiet jingling from his little tomato key chain, Lovino dropped his backpack on the beige carpet floor.

"Your room is kinda small," Lovino blurted, since neither had said anything. Antonio looked at him, and scratched his cheek.

"Is it?"

"Yeah."

"Is your room a lot bigger?"

"I share it with my little brother." Lovino took a seat on the other boy's bed, sinking into the soft mattress. He took a look at the covers - just red, with white pillows, nothing terribly out there or odd. A small part of Lovino had thought that Antonio would have had tomato print sheets, or even plushes with the likeness of the fruit.

"Oh."

Again, an awkward silence followed, and Lovino uncomfortably shifted on his bed. "Why're you being so quiet, huh?" He patted the spot on the bed, signalling Antonio to jump on.

The boy didn't get the hint, but only gave Lovino one of his sheepish smiles, endearing in its own awkward way. "I just don't have anything to say." He began to walk over to his closet, which was a bit small. Lovino could hear the rustling of boxes, and a few jingling noises, and leaned over the foot of the bed to get a glimpse of what Antonio was doing.

"Found it!" Antonio sang, pulling out a dusty, flat-ish box from the closet. Lovino jumped off his bed, feet hitting the floor noisily.

"What is it?"

"A game!"

"Like, a video game?" Lovino asked, eyes narrowing - the box seemed a little too big to be a cd case, well  _much_  too big, but the only games Lovino really played where the ones that you put into consoles and played on the TV. So far, Lovino had only counted one TV in Antonio's house, and it large and boxy and located in the living room.

The Spanish boy giggled, and Lovino frowned. "No, it's a board game." He opened the box, revealing a faded board, and a few playing pieces. Lovino looked at the cover of the box.

"'The Game of Life'." He said, reading the title. "Life?" He asked, confused. "What kind of game is about  _living_?"

"This one!" Antonio spread it out, and handed a little playing piece to Lovino. "I lost the instructions a long time ago, but I used to play this game with my brother a lot, so I sort've remember how to play! Now, this car is you, Lovino, and then you spin this little thing over here..."

Lovino rolled his eyes at Antonio's enthusiasm, but still paid attention with a raptness he refused to let Antonio see.

x

Summer was going to be uneventful for Lovino - Feliciano was going to some summer art classes everyday, and Nonno wasn't that fun to spend time with - so when Antonio had asked him to visit again, Lovino was excited. Even if he scowled and pouted and complained that going to Antonio's place was too much work, he, and maybe even Antonio, knew that he was secretly thrilled.

They had just finished walking to the little convenience store on the corner of a road down Antonio's house - they were often in stock with their favorite ice cream bar - double-stick strawberry popsicles. After buying two, much to Lovino's secret delight, they began the short walk back to Antonio's.

They came in through the backdoor of the house, passing by the kitchen to go grab another snack. At the oven, Antonio's mom was busy chopping away at some vegetables. It was odd, Lovino thought for a moment, that he never saw Antonio's dad around. Sometimes, when he stayed a bit later at the Spanish boy's house, he could hear a deep male voice talking to Antonio's mom, but never got a glimpse of him.

"We can play that board game, again." Antonio said, cutting into Lovino's thoughts as he sat on the floor. Lovino followed after, already done and finished with his popsicle stick - he had thrown it away right before they left the kitchen.

"But we  _always_  play that game," Lovino whined, as he folded his legs underneath him.

"Exactly!" The other boy grinned. "Doesn't that make it even better - like a tradition, or something? Right?"

"I guess," The Italian said, albeit with some frustration. "Are you sure you don't have any other games?"

"Not really," Antonio said, laying back, arms spread. "Most of my stuff is at my grandparents' place."

Again, with the mentioning of moving. Lovino felt a bit embarrassed, even when he asked a question that shouldn't have been embarrassing at all. "...You aren't...  _moving_ , are you?" _  
_

The Spanish boy looked up at him brightly, and sat up from his place on the ground. "Why would you think that?"

"W- well, your stuff  _is_  disappearing." Lovino replied moodily, upset that Antonio had laughed, even if he knew the laughter wasn't directed at him.

"It's just because I'm just spending lots of time at my grandparents', Lovino!" Another happy laugh from the other boy. "I've been spending a lot of time over there, so it's normal to have my stuff there, right?"

"Yeah." But Lovino still didn't feel like he understood - whenever he visited relatives, they just took a luggage of stuff and left for the week - it was nowhere near Antonio's case, and the little Italian didn't know what to think. "Okay."

Instead of playing their usual board game for the rest of the afternoon, they had instead decided to sit out on the back porch of the house, where it overlooked a small, but neatly tended to garden. Lovino, who always brought his backpack with him when he visited Antonio's, dropped the bag beneath the porch, the little tomato key chain shining in the afternoon light.

"Give me the other half of your popsicle." Lovino said, shameless. Antonio, who had eaten his popsicle slowly, was barely through a half of the popsicle.

"But you already had yours." The boy replied cheekily, taking a cold bite out of his own popsicle.

"But it's hot today," Lovino countered, leaning as far back into the little bench as he could. He made a face.

Antonio chuckled, always playing the good sport, and swiftly broke his popsicle in half; he barely had any time to give it to Lovino, especially when Lovino practically snatched it from him, sticking his tongue out. Antonio just took it as his little token of thanks.

"...What do you even do at your grandparents' place, anyways?" Lovino asked, already halfway done with the popsicle. "Aren't they boring? My grandpa is boring."

"They live far away," Antonio said at first. "When we go we drive for a long time, all the way where there's only fields, and stuff. And cows! They live on a farm, and grow stuff and sell that stuff to a small grocery store. Sometimes I help with picking the fruit, but not all the time. The sun's really hot there."

"It's really hot here, too." Lovino pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's like  _really_  hot!" Antonio said, his arms out as some sort of testament to his statement. "Especially when you're out in the fields and stuff."

Lovino laughed, and was going to say something about that  _being dumb, there was no way anywhere could be hotter than here_ , but Antonio's mom had made her way to the back, a small smile on her lips that was reminiscent of Antonio's own.

"Lovino, your father is out there to pick you up." She said, wiping her hands on her colorful summer dress. Antonio let out a whine. Lovino was surprised - Nonno usually didn't pick him up early - often, it was the other way around, where Lovino would stay an hour or so later than scheduled because Nonno didn't have enough time to get him at the correct time.

"He's not my dad," Lovino said in a high voice. "He's my grandpa." Antonio's mom looked a little surprised, but still laid a hand on his back, gently but firmly steering him to the front door. Antonio jumped off from the bench, almost finished popsicle stick in hand as he followed the two.

"But, mama, Lovino's only been here for a few hours!"

The woman patted Antonio's head. "He can't stay if his grandpa wants him home."

Antonio had actually looked upset - often, he feigned a sort of pretend upset around Lovino, but this, Lovino noted, was for real. He rolled his eyes, his small mouth in a smirk. "I'll be here again soon." He said, waving his hand. Antonio pouted, and let out a little, "Oh!", before running somewhere in the back of his house.

Lovino was taken aback - it was often  _him_  who ran to the car, not leaving any time for Antonio to give a big hug and a happy, 'Come back soon, okay?'. It peeved him, and left a bad taste in his mouth to see Antonio run off like that, however hypocritical it was of him to think so, and suddenly he didn't feel as good as he had. He let his hands slide into his pockets as he made his way to Nonno's car, where the old man was grinning and waving at him like a child.

"I'm coming, Nonno!" Lovino yelled, trotting over. He gave a little wave to Antonnio's mom, and opened the car door, slipping into the passenger's seat, even if he wasn't old enough to legally do so.

Nonno pressed on the gas, heading off to their little home, easily going ten miles over the speed limit of the neighborhood. He braked abruptly, when a young voice had yelled, "Lovino!" Lovino unbuckled his seat belt so he could lean out the window.

"What are you doing, Antonio?" He yelled back, watching the young boy run towards the car, a large  _something_ in his hand. Lovino gasped when he saw it was his backpack, which he had forgotten.

"I," An intake of air. Lovino took his backpack through the open window, face warm. "I got your backpack." Antonio smiled, red-faced from running all the way, and even though it was a small act on Antonio's part, Lovino couldn't ignore the happiness bubbling in his stomach, because he had a friend who was willing to run after him to give him something he had forgotten.

"I-Idiot." Was all Lovino could say for a moment. "You could've just gotten your mom to drive it to my house."

"But," Antonio laughed, still trying to breathe in more air from running so far. "Then you'd get it later, instead of now."

"Whatever," Lovino said, without malice, a grin breaking out on his face. "Just get in the back - Nonno will drive you back home."

x

He found himself at Antonio's doorstep a few days later. He knocked a good few times, and even rang the doorbell more than what would have been appropriate.

"Antoniooo!" He yelled. "Antonio's mom?"

No one opened the door. Lovino frowned, crossing his arms in the way Nonno sometimes did, when he was disappointed. "Come on! I know you're there!" He yelled, trying to get someone in the house to notice him. Antonio had to be home - he hadn't said anything about a trip or anything, so he  _had_  to be home, right?

"I'm not even here to spend a long time over!" He crowed, and although it wasn't a lie, it wasn't exactly the truth, either - Antonio's house had become his place to visit over the summer, and he enjoyed it. Not that he'd let the other boy know. "I just lost my tomato key chain, and Nonno said to ask if it was here!"

Still, no answer.

"C'mon Antonio!" He yelled, voice high pitched and adolescent. "You didn't even say you were going!"

He knocked a few times, rang the door bell again. He waited, and kicked the door when no one had opened it for him.

x

When Lovino entered Antonio's room again, a few weeks later, a desk and one of the clothes drawers were missing. Antonio noticed him noticing the change, and cheerfully answered his unspoken question. "I've been visiting my grandparents a lot, lately... my Mama sent some of my stuff there cause I was visiting so much." Despite his somewhat cheery tone, Lovino couldn't help but feel uneasy by the look in Antonio's eyes. Like he was uncertain - of what, Lovino couldn't tell, but what bothered him the most was that it reminded him too much of the boy who had slammed the classroom door at the beginning of the year and not the boy Lovino knows now.

"Okay." Was all Lovino could say. His throat felt a little dry when he said, "I don't really remember where it was at."

"Ah," Antonio turned, looking through some of the toys on the floor. "Maybe it might be hidden here?"

"Maybe."

Lovino half-heartedly shrugged, not really interested in finding the tomato key chain. He immediately went over to Antonio's tomato print bed, looking through some of the pillows and covers. He  _was_  looking forward to spending time at Antonio's house though, but the missing furniture and the Spanish boy's tone had really made everything feel a bit drab. Lovino almost didn't want to stay anymore, but that's what precisely made him want to stay - that odd feeling, almost a sort of foreshadowing to  _something_. So, he didn't say anything about wanting to go.  _Just in case._

"'Just in case what?" Antonio said, and Lovino's head whipped in Antonio's direction.

"W-what?"

"You were mumbling stuff," The other replied, head tilted to the side.

"O-oh. It was nothing." Lovino muttered, and though Antonio opened his mouth to say more, he seemed to decide against it, because he closed it shut.

"Maybe it could be on the porch - that's where you forgot your bag last time you were here." Antonio scratched the back of his head.

_The last, last time I was here_ , Lovino wanted to correct - Antonio wasn't here the last time he came over, and Lovino hadn't been able to visit him again until a few weeks after, when he had visited and Antonio's mom let him in.

"Yeah, probably." Lovino said. "I don't think we would be able to find it in your messy room, anyways." Antonio laughed.

They walked over to the porch, and Antonio knelt on the wooden boards, looking under the the bench, while Lovino watched him. "You should too, you know." Antonio said, looking up at the Italian boy for a moment. "It's not down here, either."

"Well, where could it be at?" Lovino asked, frowning. He wasn't very attached to the dumb trinket, but it had always been hooked onto his backpack, and he liked having it on, especially since Antonio always said how nice it was.

"I dunno." Antonio said.

"Well, don't stop looking!"

"But you're not even looking!" Antonio said, and Lovino huffed.

"It's your house. You should look."

"But it's your tomato."

"But, but," Lovino faltered, mouth down-turned. "Fine, I'll go get a new one!"

"No, don't do that! I really liked the one you had!"

Lovino's frown broke for a moment, a small smile threatening to break out."Then go find it."

Antonio, loyal as ever, grabbed his hand, and said, "only if you help me."

Lovino rolled his eyes, but got on his knees with Antonio, looking for that dumb key chain.

x

The last time he visited Antonio's house is the week before fifth grade - the queasy churning in his stomach was still there, because he knew there was a chance he wouldn't have the same teacher as Antonio.

He didn't come to Antonio's house to look for the little tomato trinket he lost - the two had given up on trying to find it after the first hour of searching - but rather, because Nonno wanted to take Antonio out to go shopping for school supplies. Lovino had rolled his eyes when Nonno had told him, as the supplies were ridiculously cheap - but Nonno had a knowing look about him when Lovino brought up Antonio and his family, and had insisted that they take Antonio with them anyways, no matter how cheap the supplies would be.

Lovino was at Antonio's door, and knocked twice. He looked behind him to see Nonno turning around to say something to little Feliciano in the backseat.

There are hurried footsteps coming towards the door, and Lovino brushes some of his bangs back as Antonio's mom opens the door. She looks a little tired, but smiles at the little boy. She's about to say something when Lovino cuts her off.

"I wanna bring Antonio to go shopping for school stuff." He says simply.

Antonio's mom's smile grows a little bit smaller.

"Antonio's not here," she says hesitantly, voice gentle as ever. "He's at his grandparents'."

"But," Lovino says, eyebrows pressed together. "It's only a week from school! Doesn't he have to be at home, to get ready?"

Antonio's mom ruffles his hair, and gives him that same small smile, green eyes looking a little watery. "He's not going to school here, anymore."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm posting the next chapter on Saturday! Thanks for reading, guys!
> 
> Remember kids: fighting is not good (unless you have a band of friends then it's okay - no no just kidding please don't do this if you are a fourth grader/ act like one)


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